Page:North Dakota Reports (vol. 3).pdf/363

 equal footing with the original states, from and after the date of said proclamation.” Section 24 of said act provides “that the constitutional conventions may by ordinance provide for the election of officers for full state governments, including members of the legislatures and representatives in the sist congress; but said state governments shall remain in abeyance until the states shall be admitted into the Union, respectively, as provided in this act.” The time and the manner of the election of such officers was left entirely in the hands of the several constitutional conventions. Asa matter of fact, the constitutional convention of North Dakota did provide for the election of all state officers at the time of the vote upon the adoption of the constitution. An inspection of the returns of that election as certified by the proper canvassing board, and which are made a part of the petition herein, discloses that there were 35,548 votes cast for or against the adoption of the constitution, and 35,945 votes cast for or against the adoption of said article 20, of which 18,552 were in the affirmative and 17,393 in the negative. It thus appears that a majority of all the votes for or against said article were in the affirmative, and also that the affirmative vote for said article exceeded one-half of all the votes cast for or against the adoption of the constitution. But at said election there were 38,098 votes cast for governor, and the affirmative vote upon the adoption of said article 20 was less than one-half of the total vote cast for governor. Upon these facts it is urged upon us with great earnestness and force that a “majority of the votes cast,” within the meaning of said § 8 of the enabling act, were not in favor of the adoption of said article 20, and hence the same was never adopted. This proposition cannot receive our assent and we will briefly state some of the reasons which irresistibly lead our minds to the opposite conclusion. Said § 8 of the enabling act requires (and the requirement is mandatory) that the proposed constitution, and any specific article that the constitutional convention may direct, be submitted to a vote of the people, and that any such specific article shall be voted upon separately, and that, if a